Bungie released a new detailed blog post on what’s to come to Destiny 2. The action-MMO, as Bungie now firmly refer to the game instead of a looter-shooter, will have its next expansion The Witch Queen to release in early 2022, instead of this year.
This is a departure from the usual yearly cadence of expansion releases, and the developers have multiple reasons, other than the understandable nature of working from home due to the current global pandemic.
For one, The Witch Queen is going to be integral to the story and world-building of Destiny moving forward. The post reads:
“The Witch Queen represents an important evolution in the ongoing story of Destiny 2. Beyond Light built the foundation and allowed us to weave the world-building of Destiny and Destiny 2 together, but The Witch Queen will light the fire on a strongly interconnected narrative across Lightfall and beyond, unlike anything we’ve ever attempted before, with characters, arcs, heroes and villains that persist over multiple future releases.”
There will also be one more expansion coming right after Lightfall, newly announced in the blog post. The coming expansions, as well as all of the released Destiny content, is now being dubbed as the “Light And Darkness Saga”.
In the current expansion Beyond Light, the power of darkness have manifested, as a game mechanic (the new Statis element) and as part of the wider narrative.
Destiny 2’s current expansion, Beyond Light, was hit by a delay before, citing work from home as a main cause. So a delay to the next one is expected. And with the ambitious plan the team is setting for The Witch Queen, it’s justified that the way is even longer than expected.
That said, there’s still new features to come to Destiny 2 this year. Armour transmog, which will be called Armor Synthesis in-game, will drop in Season 14. Season 14 will also see the return of the Vault Of Glass raid, the first Destiny raid.
Cross-play will also start being tested in Season 14 and will officially roll out in Season 15. (Don’t worry: PVP Crucible matches won’t be matchmaking PC and console players, unless you specifically want to by inviting your friends on another platform).
Currently, Destiny 2 is in Season 13- Season Of The Chosen.
Source: Bungie